Islands in the Stream
by knightlycat
Summary: Kurt and Blaine repay their loyal fans with a livestream event. A Not Like the Movies 'verse story.


**Another one-shot in the Not Like the Movies 'verse. Special thanks to StardustRose11 for the livestream prompt. Title is from the song of the same name from Kenny Rogers and Dolly Parton.**

* * *

_Kurt Hummel and Blaine Anderson will be taking your questions this Thursday at 3:00 p.m. EST on CelebStream. Tweet your questions to CelebStreamQs using hashtag #KlaineStream or sign up now to possibly ask your question live during this amazing livestreaming event… CelebStream upcoming event announcement, June 22nd, 2020_

=^..^=

_*pterodactyl screeching*_

_O…M…G please someone tell me this is real #when you wish upon a star your dreams come true_

_I just screamed and my mom came running into my room carrying a frying pan. I think she thought I was being kidnapped or something #no mom I'm not dying I'm just going to have the chance to talk to my RL OTP_

_Wow, they're really on a "repair Kurt's damaged reputation" blitz, aren't they? First Katie, then Entertainment Weekly and now a live stream? #lol Kurt Hummel #good luck with that_

_Okay everyone, let's make sure that no one asks stupid questions during this that will just ensure that we never get another one. There is a certain element to this fandom (you know who you are) who could really ruin it for everyone else by asking about their sex lives or other inappropriate subjects. And god, please change your embarrassing screen names so that they don't see them JFC. Here's a list of questions you might think about asking…_

_#whale sounds #dying whale sounds_

=^..^=

Kurt stared unblinking at the computer in front of him.

"It's not going to bite, Kurt." Blaine sat down beside him and gently nudged him with his shoulder.

"You say that now, but soon legions of fangirls will be on the other side of that screen. We may not escape alive."

Blaine laughed at Kurt's pronouncement and Kurt felt his chest tighten pleasantly. He loved making Blaine laugh.

"We can still back out, you know," Blaine said, looking a little unsure himself. "They'll just say that there were technical difficulties or something."

Kurt straightened his shoulders. He wasn't someone who backed down or got intimidated. At least not anymore. "No, I want to do this. The fans stuck by us and I want to do something for them. It'll be fine. I'm just being melodramatic. They aren't that scary. I think."

It'd been three weeks since the Katie Couric interview and things had calmed down dramatically since then. The horrible swirl of negative press and stories that were out-and-out lies had dropped off after he and Blaine gone on the record with their story. They'd told Katie the truth about how they'd met, how they'd fallen in love for real (or at least the short, edited version that Kurt was comfortable telling), and about the stalker who had terrorized Kurt.

According to reviews of the interview, they'd come across as genuine, likeable, and just contrite enough about the lies that they'd told to satisfy the public. All seemed to be forgiven.

Just a week earlier, Maria, his New York based PR rep, had suggested the idea of the livestream. Kurt, remembering the thrill he'd gotten when actors that he'd followed had done their own streaming Q and As when he was in school, had agreed right away.

Now, when it was just minutes away, his nerves were getting to him.

Maria had walked them through the whole thing, describing how things would work from their end and explaining how they'd be selecting the questions. She was doing a fine job, but Kurt couldn't help but wish that Lynn was there with them.

"We've already received over two thousand questions and more will come in during the event," Maria explained as the CelebStream team did their last minute preparations. "We'll probably do around forty to fifty questions, depending on how long you take to answer."

"Do I even want to see the questions that you've weeded out?" Kurt asked.

"Trust me when I say one hundred percent 'no,'" Maria said with a laugh. "We've got about six thousand people already logged on, so have fun."

She went to go stand with the CelebStream people and Kurt started thumping his fingers along the top of desk, only stopping when he heard Blaine humming beside him.

Kurt side-eyed Blaine when he finally recognized the tune. "Blaine, are you humming _Islands in the Stream_?"

Blaine broke off in the middle of the song to respond. "It was the only song I could think of with 'stream' in the name. Come on, sing it with me." He hummed a few more bars before he started to sing the lyrics.

Kurt shot him a disbelieving, exasperated look, but by the time Blaine reached the first chorus, he'd been drawn in. He started to sing along, remembering the good old days of Glee club, when an impromptu duet or need for background singing was a daily occurrence. He felt the tension drop way with ever measure.

As they reached the end of the last chorus, Kurt looked towards the screen and realized that the "streaming" indicator had turned green as they were singing. As soon as he realized that their silly song had just been broadcast across the internet, he scrunched up his nose and squeezed his eyes shut for a split second. When he opened them, he gave the camera a smile and wave.

"Well, that was embarrassing. Hi everyone! I'm Kurt Hummel…" Kurt paused and glanced over at Blaine.

"And I'm Blaine Anderson."

"And we're here to chat with everyone and hopefully have some fun. I want to thank everyone for coming today. I'm told we have a lot of questions, so let's get started." Kurt looked down at the bottom of the screen, waiting for the first question to appear.

_Hummel Worshiper kehforever_ – _How do you guys like living in New York? Do you miss Hollywood? #KlaineStream_

Kurt made a face at the screen name as he thought about all the reasons why he loved living in New York: Walking home from their favorite hole-in-the-wall café on his nights off, his arm tucked into Blaine's, trading soft kisses as they took the quieter, out of the way, streets back to their apartment. Quiet, lazy mornings spent in bed, the sound of the busy city drifting in from the window. Giggling as they went out to find pizza at three o'clock in the morning after a round of making love had left them famished. Needing nothing more than a scarf to tuck his chin into in order to become anonymous and blend into any crowd. There were all those reason and hundreds more, but he couldn't and wouldn't say any of that to strangers on the internet.

"Personally, I love living in New York," he offered up instead. "I'd kind of built it up in my mind as some kind of utopia while I was growing up in Ohio, so it was always my goal to come here. I love how New Yorkers just generally don't care about celebrities. If someone recognizes me on the street they're just as likely to chew me out for blocking the sidewalk as ask for an autograph. The city is the great equalizer. I'd live here even if I didn't love it, because this is where the theater scene is at, so I guess I'm really lucky that it feels like home. As for Hollywood, I definitely I miss my friends out there the most. And Donut Man donuts. God, I love those. What about you, Blaine?"

"I loved the weather in L.A., but I can't say that I miss the traffic. It's so great to be able to walk everywhere here. No one walks in L.A." Blaine shook his head in wonder. "As for New York, I've lived in a lot of places all over the world and I can safely say that New York is my favorite. Okay, the next question is from Lola."

_Lola lolaquitecontrary – How is Elphie and how did you pick her name? #KlaineStream_

A goofy grin appeared on Kurt's face at the mention of his beautiful baby. "Oh god, isn't she the cutest dog in the whole wide world? She's doing wonderfully. We're starting obedience training soon and Blaine's already teaching her a bunch of tricks. I'll have to send out a new photo soon. Blaine gave her to me as an opening night present, so I got to name her. I always loved _Wicked_ growing up and really identified with Elphaba, but Elphaba seemed a little too much name for such a little puppy, so I went with Elphie instead." He paused for a second. "Oh, a little voice from the ether over there is telling me that we're going to chat with someone live for the next question."

Kurt watched as the left side of the screen, which had been blank up until then, flickered to life, showing a girl, probably fourteen or so, sitting in a room with _Toy Story: The Musical_ posters plastered all over the wall.

"Oh my god, oh my god, I can't believe I'm actually talk to you," the girl shrieked, bouncing up and down in her chair. "Hi, I'm Leslie from San Antonio. We love you guys here so much!"

"We love you, too," Kurt responded, trying hard not to wince at the piercing tone of her voice. "What's your question?"

She stopped bouncing and seemed to take a deep breath to gather herself. "I just wanted to ask Blaine how he likes teaching. Oh, and what grade do you teach? Cause I'd just die of happiness if you were my teacher." Her words got higher and faster as she spoke until Kurt was sure any dogs in her neighborhood must be howling.

Blaine, who had had experience lately with trying to calm down teenage groupies, took her excitement in stride. "I love it. I've always liked working with kids and I studied to be a teacher in college, so I was really happy to finally be in the classroom. I start full-time in September, so I think this may be the first time in my life that I've looked forward to the summer going by quickly. I'm pretty sure I'm going to be teaching several grades, so I'll be able to work with all sorts of kids."

Kurt listened as Blaine answered the question, knowing that his easy smile hid the small amount of anxiety that still surrounded his teaching job. It'd been a close thing with Carlisle Academy. A few of the board members had wanted to terminate Blaine's contract right away, but Blaine had promised that the bad press would die down and the stories that had come out right before the meeting had seem to support that, so the vote had ultimately gone his way. The board was still watching closely for any signs that Blaine would be a disruption to their students, though. More than anything else, Kurt regretted how the whole situation had affected Blaine, that he'd been so caught up in his own crap, in his determination to handle things his own way, that he hadn't stopped for a second to listen to what Blaine was trying to tell him, to see the collateral damage that was being inflicted.

The screen went dark and a new text question appeared.

_Mrs. Hummel idturnhimstraight – What would you say to someone wanting to get onto Broadway #KlaineStream_

Once again, Kurt cringed at the screen name. Didn't these people know he'd be seeing the names if their question was selected?

"I'd say first you should get all the training that you can. Do community theater, school plays, choir, take dance lessons, everything. Then, if you still think that this is the life for you then you need to make sure that you're up for the rejection. Ninety percent of this job is getting told 'no' over-and-over again. Sometimes, it doesn't matter how talented you are. It's about being in the right place at the right time. It's about luck. My best friend from high school is the most talented person I've ever met. Seriously. The fact that she isn't a star with mantles full of awards yet is mind boggling and has done more than anything else to convince me that nothing in this world is fair." Kurt paused, remembering all the times he'd resented Rachel's talent when he was younger. "She just hasn't found her moment yet. But she will, because she's not afraid to keep trying. You need that kind of commitment or this isn't the life for you."

The live feed came to life again for the next question, this time showing a woman in her early twenties.

"Oh wow. Hi," she said breathlessly. "Wow, umm…I'm Bridget. From London."

"Hi Bridget," Kurt and Blaine said in unison.

"I was wondering what your favorite foods are?"

The mention of food reminded Kurt that he'd skipped lunch and he hoped his stomach wouldn't rumble loudly enough to be picked up by the microphone. "Cheesecake," he said definitively. "No doubt about it. Doesn't matter the flavor. The only bad thing about living in New York is how easy it is to get good cheesecake. I've had to increase my workouts just to be able to fit into my costumes."

Blaine looked skyward for a second as he thought about his answer. "I'm going to have to go with pizza. I know it's kind of a cliché answer, but there's something special about New York pizza. It's the best, no matter where you get it or at what time." Kurt felt Blaine's hand settle on his knee and he tried to contain the blush he felt creeping up his neck. Obviously Blaine had fond memories of three a.m. pizza also.

_The Anderson Hummels km_horpenstof – Blaine, tell us something about Kurt we don't know? #KlaineStream_

"Hmmmmmm…" Blaine drew out as he turned to look at Kurt thoughtfully.

Kurt set his elbows on the desk, dropped his chin onto his folded hands, and batted his eyes as Blaine considered what to say.

"Something you don't already know…Oh! He gets scared at horror movies. And I don't mean give a little scream when the bad guy jumps out scared. I mean, looking through his fingers, shaking in his seat, crowds you until he's sitting in your lap scared." Blaine looked very proud of himself at the revelation.

"You'll pay for that later, Anderson," Kurt threatened playfully.

Blaine just smiled innocently, unconcerned. "Next question?"

_Phantom and Christine acrossthedarklake - Favorite movie/musical (that Kurt wasn't in) #KlaineStream_

"Well, I can tell that yours is probably _Phantom_," Kurt laughed. "I love too many to mention, but my all-time favorite is Wicked, which you probably already guessed."

"You should hear him sing _Defying Gravity_," Blaine interjected earnestly. "Original key and everything. You'll never think of that song in the same way again. Life changing."

Kurt wondered if it was possible to turn off the camera for a second so that he could blink away the tears in his eyes unnoticed. Instead, he just kept his head turned towards Blaine. "And what's your favorite musical, Blaine?" he asked, thankful that his voice was steady.

"I haven't seen anywhere near the number of shows that Kurt's seen, but I'm going to go with _The Who's Tommy_ or _Grease_."

Kurt gave a deep sigh, pulling Blaine's attention. "What?" he asked.

"Oh, don't mind me," Kurt said, waving his hand carelessly. "Just sitting here picturing you as Teen Angel."

It was now Blaine's turn to blush and Kurt smiled to himself proudly as the next person with a live question popped up onto the screen.

"I love you guys so much. I can't believe I actually got picked to talk to you." The young man, who was probably in his late teens, was wearing a X-men t-shirt with Kurt front-and-center as Northstar. "I'm Jimmy and I loved your performance at Broadway Backwards. Any chance the two of you will perform together again?"

Kurt titled his head, indicating that he was deferring the question to Blaine. He'd love it if Blaine agreed to sing with him again, but wasn't going to pressure him. He knew that part of Blaine's reluctance came from the previous assertions by some elements of the press that he was just using Kurt to get into the business (and the fact that Kurt had accused him of it once in anger didn't help matters any), but added to that now was a reluctance to do anything that could jeopardize his teaching job.

Blaine shook his head as he answered. "I think that little duet you got at the beginning of this stream is probably going to be all you'll get for now. Broadway Backwards was really fun, but it was a special situation. I'm happy being on the sidelines."

He didn't look like he knew what else to say, so Kurt stepped in and called for the next question.

_Cruising Altitude ca_crv – You both looked gorgeous at the Tonys. How do you pick what you're going to wear. P.S. Sorry you didn't win this year. =( #KlaineStream_

Kurt remembered how spectacular Blaine had looked that night and how proud he was to walk into that the theater with him on his arm. It had been their first public appearance since the incident at the premier and he'd been quite literally shaking in his loafers in the limo on the way to Radio City, but once Blaine had held out a hand to help him from the car he'd felt a wave of calm roll over him. It didn't matter what people thought or if they whispered behind their backs, as long as the love of this life was beside him. It had turned out that he'd had nothing to worry about. It was obvious that no one at the ceremony believed any of the tabloid rumors for a second and he and Blaine got nothing but unwavering support the whole night.

"Awww, thanks. I wasn't too upset about not winning, though. Parker Jennings was amazing as Buzz Lightyear, so no one was cheering louder than me when he won and I'm thrilled that _Toy Story_ was named Best Musical, because the credit for that goes to every single person who works on the show. As for clothes, sometimes designers send me stuff to choose from and some of the time I pull from my own closet or do a major shopping spree. It's hard, as a guy, to keep things fresh, but I try to put my own personal spin on everything. I try not to stress out about it, though. I think I'm pretty easy going about the whole thing."

Blaine snorted loudly in his ear. "Don't let him fool you," he said to the camera. "He spends more time thinking about what he's going to wear than anything else. I think he was happier about being named Best Dressed man at the Oscars than he was about winning. He—"

Kurt slapped a hand across Blaine's mouth playfully. "Anyway, as I was going to say before I was so rudely interrupted. I think when it comes to your clothes you should just go with what makes you feel confident. There's no better way than fashion to tell the world who you are. Ah, look, the next question is here already."

_Zelda My Love zeldadarkin – Blaine, what was the hardest part about being a bodyguard? #KlaineStream_

Blaine licked Kurt's palm to get him to take his hand away. Kurt squealed and wiped his hand on Blaine's shirt as he began to answer. They'd agreed beforehand that they would allow a question about Blaine's former career, so it wasn't a surprise.

"I can't speak in specifics, but in general it was hard feeling like I was intruding on someone's life during a stressful time. I tried my best to keep my client's spirits up, but there was usually a tension there, which was difficult." Blaine clutched Kurt's hand tightly under the desk. "That and the fear when something went wrong, when someone I was responsible for was in danger. That wasn't anything I ever got used to."

Kurt felt the overwhelming desire to give Blaine a kiss and despite his aversion to public displays of affection, he gave into it. He leaned over and kissed Blaine softly on the corner of his mouth, drawing back slowly as their eyes met.

He cleared the frog from his throat and looked back at the screen. "Next question."

_Curiouser and curiouser wonderlandmademedoit - Is Elphie your first pet? #KlaineStream_

"I had a beautiful red betta fish named Bonnie when I was a kid." He saw Blaine's quizzical look and shrugged. "Yes, I was aware that the brightly colored bettas were male. I just liked the name. I was too heartbroken to get another pet after he died."

"I didn't have any pets growing up," Blaine volunteered, his back a little stiffer than it had been before. "Elphie's my first."

Kurt knew that what Blaine wasn't saying was that his parents had absolutely refused to allow their sons to have pets, no matter how much they begged. When Blaine was ten, he'd found a stray cat in the backyard and had fed it for several weeks before his mom had caught him. The cat hadn't been seen again after that and Blaine could only hope that she'd had it taken to the pound.

The chat screen popped up again, signaling another live question. Another young woman in her early twenties appeared, but she didn't show the nervous excitement that the other two had.

"It's really nice to meet you guys. I had another question ready, but now that I'm here, I think I have to ask…Why did you guys fake a relationship? Why did you lie to us?"

The screen cut out immediately and Kurt could hear Maria whispering angrily for the CelebStream people to bring up a new question.

"No, that's okay," he called out to her. He turned back to the camera, more nervous then, for some reason, than he'd been when he'd answered the same question for Katie Couric. He set his hands on the desk and looked down at them. "I don't have an excuse. Not really. My team felt at the time that it was the right decision. They were concerned for my safety, but awards season was coming up and they thought it was best if we kept the whole situation out of the press. I'm not blaming them at all. I could have said 'no' when the idea was presented to me. I was going to, but then I met Blaine and…"

Blaine laid a hand over his and he turned it over so that they would entangle their fingers.

"I hated lying to everyone and all I can do is promise not to do it again, but I can't say that I regret it, because who knows what might have changed if I'd done it all differently? If I'd said 'no' to having a bodyguard or decided to go public I might not be where I am now and," he squeezed Blaine's hand tighter, "I wouldn't trade this for anything."

He lapsed into silence, knowing there was more to say, but not finding the words. He caught a movement out of the corner of his eye and saw Maria holding up a finger. "It looks like we only have time for one more question."

Hopefully, the team had selected a good, distracting question.

_Whoopsie Daisy daisyjgordon - Do you guys ever go on tumblr and read about yourselves? #KlaineStream_

Kurt groaned internally and felt Blaine snicker quietly beside him. Well, it was certainly distracting. "Let's just say we know how talented many of you are and that it's great to see so much creativity going on. Oh, and some of you need to study up on your anatomy, because bodies don't bend that way. Trust us."

Blaine dipped his head down, his shoulders shaking with silent laughter and Kurt knew he had to sign off quickly before he lost it too. "Well, that's all the time we have, folks. We'd like to thank everyone for joining us. Have a great night!"

The screen flickered once and went dark.

=^..^=

_Can someone gif the moment when Kurt says "I wouldn't trade this for anything?" I need it. For science._

_Can someone all 911 so that the paramedics will come help me remove this tree from my eye? #RL OTP how I love you_

_Did you see that kiss? Oh god, my heart #why doesn't someone love me like that? :3 #whyyyyyyyy_

_Asdfghsdfghjkdfghjk. That is all *u*_

_Kurt, Blaine go to the corner and think about what you've done_

_Alert! Alert! Kurt and Blaine know about the porn. Repeat: they know about the porn! We are now at Defcon 1._


End file.
